The whole life lies in the verb seeing.
Pierre Teilhard De ChardinRead
It seems to me that terrestrial beings, as they become more autonomous, psychologically richer, shut themselves up in a way against one another, and at the same time gradually become strangers to the cosmic environment and currents, impenetrable to one another, and incapable of exteriorizing themselves.
Interpretation
What this quote means
As humans gain independence and complexity, they may isolate themselves from each other and the larger universe.
This quote by Pierre Teilhard De Chardin reflects on the paradox of human progress. While individuals become more autonomous and psychologically developed, this same growth can lead to a sense of disconnection from one another and the cosmos. In striving for independence, we may lose touch with our shared existence, becoming estranged from both our fellow beings and the natural world around us. This observation invites us to consider how we balance personal autonomy with our connections to others and the universe at large.
Themes
AutonomyConnectionIsolationHuman NatureCosmos
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of community, one might use this quote to highlight the dangers of isolation.
More from Pierre Teilhard De Chardin
All quotes →Religion and science are the two conjugated faces or phases of one and the same complete act of knowledge - the only one which can embrace the past and future of evolution and so contemplate, measure and fulfil them.
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The mineral world is a much more supple and mobile world than could be imagined by the science of the ancients. Vaguely analogous to the metamorphoses of living creatures, there occurs in the most solid rocks, as we now know, perpetual transformation of a mineral species.
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We may, perhaps, imagine that the creation was finished long ago. But that would be quite wrong. It continues still more magnificently, and at the highest levels of the world.
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Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves. All we need is to imagine our ability to love developing until it embraces the totality of men and the earth.
Pierre Teilhard De ChardinRead
If there is one thing I fear less than everything else, it is, I believe, persecution for my opinions. There are a good many points about which I may be diffident, but when it comes to questions of Truth and intellectual independence, there is no holding me - I can envisage no finer end than to sacrifice oneself for a conviction.
Pierre Teilhard De ChardinRead
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